Expectations
by TheAngel'sWings
Summary: An early morning summons -3AM, anyone?- reminds Percy that no matter how hard he tries, a normal life is almost impossible. A quest that could tip the balance of the war one way or the other. Post BotL. T in case the storyline changes as I write it.
1. 3 AM

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, I don't own Percy Jackson. I would like to ;), but it's better that I don't. Honestly.**

Expectations

"Percy?"

The whisper in the darkness was enough to wake me up. At first, I rolled straight off the edge of the bed, reached for Riptide, and was trying to uncap it whilst falling off the bed as silently as possible. Harder than you might imagine, actually.

"Percy?" The voice I would know anywhere, anytime, and whatever the situation.

"Yes?" I replied as quietly as my stupor would allow – that would be something I would have to practise. "Annabeth? What time is it? And why did you wake me up?"

"Seaweed Brain, it's 3am. However, there is a reason. It's remarkably important. Come quickly!"

I struggled up off the floor, using the bed to help me. I pulled on a jumper over the t-shirt that I wore to sleep in, and changed into a pair of combats. Yanking my boots on, I hopped to the door. I paused, bent down to do up my shoelaces – always a good idea, and then straightened up.

"Where now, Wise Girl?" I quizzed.

"The beach," she replied quickly.

Annabeth grabbed my wrist and started dragging me towards the beach, taking a long route to avoid the regular harpy patrols, through a route which made it more unlikely that they would find our scent.

The sand was cold at this unearthly hour, and I was glad I had chosen to wear my combat boots, rather than my normal trainers or Converse. Cold sand in your shoes? No way. Wrapping my jumper closer around me, I wondered why here? This was nowhere near where the Hippocampi waited for me when they had problems that needed sorting out.

"Over here," Annabeth's voice called to me from my left. I followed, aware of the fact that Annabeth and I were alone. We walked until we came to the camp's magical boundaries, and I managed to walk into Annabeth because she stopped so suddenly.

"Annabeth, why are we here?" I asked, with absolutely no idea.

"Seaweed Brain, we're meeting someone here. As to who, you'll have to wait and see. They specifically asked that you didn't know until now."

"So, someone somewhere asked to meet us, didn't want me to know until it actually happened, and now we have to wait...Just wonderful."

We lapsed into silent thought, each staring out at the sea. I felt calmer than I should have been, given the situation. After some time, I'm not sure how long, I thought of something that I should have asked before.

"What time are they meeting us?" I broke the silence quite unwillingly, but I needed to know.

She glanced at her watch, and out beyond the boundaries, before answering.

"Some time within the next 5 minutes, schedule permitting, of course."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that they should be here very soon, but if they can't get away in time, they can contact me and tell me. But for now, we just have to wait."

"Oh."

My questions hadn't really been answered, but it was probably the best answer I would get out of her. We resumed sitting in silence watching the waves, but this time Annabeth was more distracted, and started fiddling with the sand near her, turning it into a rough idea of a building – not very effective in exceptionally dry sand. Expectation was making me nervous, I wondered who we could be meeting at this time, and at this place. I thought originally of Luke, but him meeting us alone? No way.

Well, not without a fight where we would each try to kill the other, ending in either an _impasse_ or one of our deaths. Hopefully not the latter.

My next thought was Nico di Angelo. But why would he want to meet us? Particularly here. Besides, he would arrive at camp tomorrow morning. From the way Annabeth was looking out at the waves, I wondered idly about Tyson for a while, but he would be busy in the Cyclopes forges, preparing for the imminent war. Briares would be there, too. I wondered how he would be getting on, it was a while since we had seen him. Actually, now I thought about it, I hadn't seen him since the day after the Battle of the Labyrinth, when Tyson gave him directions to the forges, about 10 months ago. Thinking of Tyson made me remember one of the last times I'd seen him, at my birthday party. Well, in the flesh at any rate. We'd talked through Iris messages a bit – he kept me up to date with the wars against the old powers that ruled the sea.

Watching the sea, I noticed a movement in the waves, a long way out. I stood, trying to see better, but at three AM, with very little light, even with eyes that had adjusted to the dark, it was hard to tell. Annabeth stood up beside me.

"I think this is it. Or it may be the messenger. I can't tell."

And that was so much better than silence. Obviously.

I started pacing. Fortunately for my nerves, it wasn't too long before I would have been able to see what was causing the disturbance. Well, if it hadn't disappeared underneath the surface.

In the darkness by the edge of the sea, a figure walked out onto the sand. No, wait, _two_ figures. One was taller than the other, slightly above two metres, I reckoned. The other was about the same size as a normal human man, about 1.8 metres. But my guesswork is usually wrong, so I wouldn't really trust them. The taller figure started loping like a large, 2-legged horse across the sand towards us.

By the time he was close enough that I could see the single eye in the middle of his forehead, he had enveloped my in a hug that I could swear was on the verge of breaking my ribs.

"Ow. Ribs," I said, coherently. Tyson was now apparently trying not to crush Annabeth now – why was he always extra-gentle with her, but didn't seem to mind cracking my ribs?

While Tyson was saying hello to Annabeth, and dragging her into the surf to see Rainbow, I was standing rather awkwardly by our other visitor. It was a totally unexpected visit, and now I could see why Annabeth had been told not to tell me. Standing in front of me, looking like some sort of cross between a fisherman and a surfer, was my father, Poseidon.

I was at a slight loss as to what I should do now. I cast around wildly in my head for something to do, but luckily, I was spared the problem when my father spoke first.

"Percy."

Just my name. Think quick. Anyway, what should you say to your dad, when they happen to be a hugely powerful, immortal Greek god?

"Uh, hi, dad," I managed to say.

It was at this point that Tyson and Annabeth – who was now wet to her knees – chose to join us, taking some of the pressure off me. Poseidon reached out and touched his forefinger to Annabeth's forehead. She was instantly dry. I wondered why he had done that, and I guessed from her expression that she was wondering too, because of Athena and Poseidon's rivalry. Almost like he had read our minds, he said simply, "We can't afford discord and fighting among ourselves at this time. Rivalries and grudges are being shut away until afterwards, if there is an afterwards, because, as the saying goes, 'United we stand, divided we fall'. Well, along those lines, anyway. But I wanted to meet with you for a reason. Annabeth and Tyson, you knew about the meeting, and you managed to arrange it, but none of you know why. However, we are in a time of great need, and this is the point more than ever, that heroes are necessary to carry the weight of human hope and to save the world. I cannot stay long, and it should not be widely known that I was here, but I need your help. You can go where I can not, and achieve that which I myself couldn't because of various restrictions. A word of warning, though. This quest that I would like you to undertake, if you choose to go, will be dangerous. It could be fatal. I do not wish for the deaths of any heroes, but if we stand any chance of winning this war, this is necessary. Do you choose to accept the quest?"

We stood in silent thought for a moment. Finally I spoke up."I'll go, Father." Tyson quickly added his agreement, but Annabeth remained silent for a moment longer. Finally she opened her mouth to say something, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

"Why me? You could have chosen someone else, someone who's Olympian parent you got along with better, so why me?"

Poseidon took his time answering, and each word seemed carefully chosen, but it sounded totally sincere, at least. "Because now, more than ever we need wisdom. And I cannot protect my son against everything. You may not be able to either, but you'll probably do a better job than I could, even if I went against the ancient laws and accompanied him. Just because I don't get along well with your mother doesn't mean I hold a grudge against you, or any of her other children, either. So, Annabeth, will you accompany Percy and Tyson?"

Annabeth drew a shaky breath. "Yes," she said decisively.

**A/N Yay. First one up. Hopefully Ch.2 won't be too long, I've planned it and written most of it, but that's paper. This is the computer. Constructive criticism welcome, I want to improve it, because I think Poseidon is really OOC. Oh, and I need a beta, so if you're willing or know of someone that might, PM me. Or get them to. I don't mind.**


	2. Quest

After Annabeth had agreed, Poseidon spoke again.

"Now. I don't want you to make it obvious to everyone. Spies are anywhere and everywhere, and you can never be too careful. Chiron, and any companions you take are allowed to know, but that's it. Anyway, you remember your first quest, Percy?"

"How could I forget?"

"I'm in a similar predicament to the one your Uncles were in then. My trident has been taken from my very own court. I suspect foul play, traitors, and a lot more that I don't have time to go into. Regardless, I need my trident. And since I can't get it myself, I have to send heroes. You are the only ones I trust enough. It's a compliment, believe me."

And I did. But I had past experience. Gods couldn't take another god's symbol of power. It was against all the Ancient Laws. Titans might be able to, I didn't know. Well, that certainly narrowed it down.

Sarcasm. You have to love it.

Poseidon cleared his throat, jolting me out of my thought processes, then continued, "If you want to, or feel you need to, you can choose one companion each, or up to three others between you. However, _no more_ than six can go on this quest. You should choose soon, and choose well. The fate of Olympus could rest on this."

I looked at Annabeth. "Well, there's me, you and Tyson. We should probably take Grover, he's been on all of our other quests..." I trailed off, wondering if Tyson would be okay with that. He probably would be, after all, he'd been the one who stayed with Grover in the Labyrinth. It was okay, though, because Annabeth nodded her agreement, and Tyson said, "Yes, goat boy should go. We will need him."

I wondered how he knew this, or if he was just saying that to make sure we didn't feel uncomfortable about not taking people on his behalf. Either way, I would have to ask, and definitely thank him at some point. I made a silent promise to the gods that I would thank him at some point.

"And Nico," ventured Annabeth, after a moments thought, "he would be a great help, with his abilities." I thought about it for a bit.

"Yes, we'll need Nico. It's lucky that he's coming to Camp tomorrow for a week or two."

I considered Thalia for a while, but she would be off with the Hunters somewhere, and I had _almost_ no way of contacting her. Well, I could send her an Iris-message, but it would take her a while to get here, and we clashed a bit too much to be together on such a dangerous quest. Besides, it would be almost like leaving the Hunters, and that might have huge repercussions. Particularly if we ran into Luke/Kronos. I still wasn't entirely sure how much in control of his own body Luke was.

Grover, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be a problem. He had stayed at Camp ever since we had got back after Pan's death. He was unofficially in charge of the satyrs that had stayed that day, and those that had joined or returned since. I looked at the others, then back to Poseidon.

"Do we need a prophecy from the Oracle? Or do we just tell Grover and Nico, pack our stuff and go?" I asked, hoping that I'd thought of everything.

Poseidon considered the best course of action for so little time, I wondered if he'd known I was going to ask. He probably would, after all, he was a god. He said urgently, "You _need_ the prophecy. And Chiron needs to know, as well. Give him this, and he should let you go." He pulled a piece of blue paper out of his pocket. I took the folded paper and looked at it. The front simply read 'Chiron', in the handwriting that I recognised as his from the letter that he sent to me at the end of my unofficial quest to save Grover. The paper was the same, too. It even _smelt _of the sea, the salty tang that I loved. I tucked it into a pocket to keep it safe.

I turned towards my father and the sea again. "Is this it? Are you going now?" I asked, needing to know the answer.

"Yes, son, I must. But if you need help, remember that the ocean is always with you." We averted our eyes as he started to glow. When we turned back to the sea, he was gone. Where he had been standing was a small-ish leather pouch. I opened it and looked inside.

My eyes widened in what was probably shock. In side were several handfuls of pearls, like those we used on our first quest to escape the Underworld. I moved them to one side so I could see if there was anything underneath them. Digging up one of the things to examine it, I realised it was a bit of fossilised sea shell, just like the ones I used to clean out the stables at the Triple G Ranch in Texas with.

Right at the very bottom, I found another note, on the same paper. I pulled it out, and Annabeth produced a pocket torch so I could read it. Unfolding it, the first thing I saw was my dad's handwriting. There were 4 words on the page, just 4.

"Use them if necessary"

I nodded quietly to myself, walked to the waters edge and said quietly, "Thanks, Dad."

I turned, and the three of us started walking up the sand dunes. "Time?" I asked Annabeth. She looked at her watch, then pressed a button. The screen lit up, and she paused, reading the numbers.

"3.46 AM," she said simply.

And with that, we topped the sand dunes and stood, looking down at the sleeping camp for a moment, until Annabeth, "Well, I think that sleep might be a good idea. I'll see you two tomorrow. Don't go to see Chiron without me, okay?" I nodded, feeling the night catch up to me. I figured I was feeling about as tired as I should be.

We avoided the harpies, and made our way to Cabin 3. I kicked off my boots, turned them upside-down to remove the sand that had somehow made its way into them without me realising until now. I crashed as I was, not bothering to change back into my 'pyjamas'.

I couldn't sleep. It had definitely been a long night so far, but it would be longer. I knew there would be very little chance of sleep following a visit from my father. I ran through the meeting in my head, replaying every word my father had said. I wondered how we would do the quest, how we could find the trident, let alone bring it back to Olympus. Actually, thinking about that...I had to get through a meeting with the Oracle. And convince Nico and Grover to accompany us. Well, if they were supposed to go, they would go. Some god would probably look after it.

Finally I drifted off to sleep, but all too soon I was woken by the conch horn. It rang out across the valley to wake us all up so we had time to be ready for breakfast. Well, most of us would. The Aphrodite kids? Not so much. I dragged myself out of my bunk and got changed. Properly dressed, I went outside. I couldn't see Annabeth in the total chaos that was slowly organising itself into something that would only pass for order if you squinted and tilted your head.

Eventually, she appeared in the doorway to Cabin Six – the Athena Cabin. She joined her half-siblings in their line whilst I waited alone for Tyson. He finally lumbered through the doorway of the low, grey stone cabin that I called home. We all filed into the pavilion and got food. Cinnamon toast. I hoped the gods liked it. At the brazier I murmured, "Poseidon," and scraped some of it off into the flames.

I noticed that this time, it smelt different from the other times. It smelt like the sea and sand, as usual, but this time, also like lava. I wondered why _lava_ of all things, but I didn't dwell on it, because after breakfast, I would have to find Annabeth and we had to go and find Chiron, visit the Oracle and then start packing our stuff. If all went well, we would leave tomorrow morning. As far as I was concerned, tomorrow could take as long as it wanted to arrive.

**A/N: Here it is, Ch.2. Sorry it took a while to get up, I was banned from the computer. And I'd like to thank Sheva Das, my beta, for looking over this and helping me to write better! Read and review, please.**


	3. Prophecy

**A/N : Alright, apologies for the lateness of this chapter. Unfortunately, real life decided it wanted to catch up, and have a nice long chat. It's not really a very good excuse, but I have been rather busy. Also, I don't know if I can guarantee another chapter until at least June - I have really important exams on around then, and our homework amounts are getting larger and larger, and I also have loads of revision to do. As always, CC is very welcome, flames are also accepted as I can learn from them. Anyway, I'm sure you're all bored of my pathethic attempts to justify my lateness, so on with the story. Enjoy...**

"Chiron!" I called. He stopped at the edge of the dining pavilion and waited for me to catch up. Tyson was right behind me, but I paused, and waited for Annabeth to join us before starting to speak. I had read the piece of paper that I had to pass on to Chiron, the one that my father had written. I wasn't unduly worried by what was written there. It only said the necessary information. Chiron would be perfectly able to fill in the gaps, it was the sort of thing that he did best.

"I see," was Chiron's first comment after reading it. "In that case, I suggest you visit the Oracle soon, when people should be busy enough that few notice. After that, we need to plan, and you will need to pack your things." He paused, before adding, as if as an after-thought, "Do you know who you will take, if it agrees with the prophecy?"

"Well," Annabeth started, "we had decided on Grover and Nico, do you think that's okay?"

Chiron pondered it for a few moments. "If the Oracle doesn't specify otherwise, then I suppose so. But please keep in mind that three is always the best number." I considered that. During our quest in the summer, there had been four of us who went into the Labyrinth. We had all survived, hadn't we?

It was with some trepidation that I climbed the stairs to the attic to see the Oracle, half an hour after talking to Chiron. The shrivelled-up mummy had always creeped me out, but at least I knew what to expect. Unfortunately, however, that didn't stop it from being a very strange experience that you didn't want to suffer more than once.

For once, and to my surprise, the attic had barely changed. The clutter all looked the same as last time: I saw Aphrodite's scarf; the Hydra head from Woodstock, and all the other junk that I'd seen last time, and it didn't seem to have multiplied, either. The Oracle was still sat on its three-legged wooden stool, looking at nothing, but still giving the impression that it knew exactly what was going on. I approached gingerly and waited.

Green smoke poured out of the Oracle's mouth, swirling around my feet and the objects on the floor.

"Greetings, Demigod. I am the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo. Ask, and I shall attempt to answer."

I thought quickly about how best to phrase my request. Finally, I decided on what to say.

"How will I be able to complete the quest?" I wondered idly if I would be able to work out what would happen beforehand, but decided that it was quite unlikely. The prophecies were notoriously obscure. I waited for the Oracle to reply, getting more and more worried. As far as I was aware, the Oracle had never taken this long to respond.

Suddenly, a voice spoke inside my head, startling me.

"The 5 will go to retrieve what's been taken,

And in their hands rests civilisation.

Fire and ice will stand in their way,

Foes, though defeated, choose not to stay.

The trapped one released, and one will be lost,

But hope will be there in Pandora's box."

I stood there, attempting to memorise it, whilst the green smoke gradually withdrew from around my feet and back into the mummy's mouth. Kicking open the trapdoor, I saw Annabeth and Grover's worried faces. I gave them the thumbs up, and started climbing down the ladder.

"How did it go?" Grover asked, before I got a chance to say anything.

"It was okay, G-man. After all, I am alive and sane. That's always a good start," I said, trying for dry humour. It failed.

"What did the Oracle say?" asked Annabeth, after a moments awkward silence. "The exact words. Remember what Chiron said about the wording itself being important."

I nodded, took a breath and recited the prophecy. Annabeth looked troubled for a moment, then dismissed it. Grover's face didn't get much chance to look worried, he dispelled it so quickly I almost missed it. But I'd known him too long. He couldn't fool me, especially not with the empathy link.

"Well, we need to find Chiron, and tell Nico as well. Four are definitely going, but we need a fifth," I said, after another moments silence.

As it happened, we ran into Nico in the porch of the Big House. He agreed to meet Chiron with us – I silently thanked whichever god it was that was pulling the strings behind the scenes. We didn't really know where Chiron would definitely be, but Annabeth had a hunch that he would be down near the cabins. Since I trusted Annabeth's hunches – they were usually right – we headed down towards the U-shape formed by the twelve cabins.

Annabeth was right, we found Chiron looking into the Hermes cabin, where apparently an Ares kid had tried to fight Travis Stoll. Big mistake, because Connor had joined in. Two against one was hard, even for an Ares kid.

We held a conference in Cabin 3, since it was by far the best place for one – no one was likely to walk in on us. The timing was excellent - it coincided with lunch. That way, everyone would be eating anyway.

Chiron listened patiently as I explained the quest to Nico, and then repeated the prophecy. He appeared to be considering the possibilities that could be implied by those words, and figuring out worst case scenarios. Of course, being Chiron, he would always have hope there somewhere. He looked grave. I suspected that he knew more than he let on, as usual.

It took Chiron a while to speak, so when he did, we all paid attention. "I don't like the line about 'One shall be lost', or 'the trapped one released'. This doesn't sound good, particularly not for Olympus. Hope, however... That is what we all need right now." He paused, as if listening to something else for an endless moment. "Pandora's box. The legend is well-known, but in this case, I do not think that it is what it seems. What it really means, I have very few ideas."

Well, if Chiron didn't really know, none of us stood much chance of knowing the answer, did we? "In any case, since you're all going, I suggest you start packing. It'll probably be best if you start after breakfast tomorrow, because I think you will have a long quest ahead of you. Whoever – or whatever – took Poseidon's trident isn't going to give it back nicely and quickly simply because you said 'please'." And on that cheerful note, he wheeled his wheelchair out of the cabin and climbed out of it. I turned to the others, and said, "He's probably right, you know. We should start sorting out our stuff _now _rather than later..."

They dispersed, leaving me alone with Tyson. "Hey, big guy," I said as cheerfully as I could manage, "It should be okay. Don't worry too much." I knew I couldn't guarantee this stuff, but he smiled at me, so I gave him the 'thumbs up' sign.

**A/N: I'm really not happy with the prophecy, but I spent the best part of an hour trying to think of a good one, and that was the best that I could think of. My waste paper basket is kinda full now... Anyhow, if you would like to, review. I appreciate all of them.**


	4. Leaving

**A/N: No justifications, I'm sorry. But I'm finally back (and somewhat motivated). Just to clarify, this is an alternate TLO, and should be treated accordingly.**

Expectations Chapter 4

I woke up early the next morning, probably because of the thought of the quest. Tyson's snoring still filled the cabin, and I focussed on it in an attempt to calm myself down a bit.

We were going to have breakfast and _then_ leave, although it was unorthodox. Then again, it was a more sensible option. I checked through my pack again, just to give myself something to do. Ambrosia and nectar? Check. Spare clothes? Check. Drachmas? Check. Mortal money? Check. And I still had Hermes' vitamins from gods know how long ago, mostly because they were pretty useful in unexpected circumstances. _Get back on task_ I reminded myself. I had my bedroll and sleeping bag, and everything else I needed, based on past experience, but I still felt like I was missing something. What it was though, I had no idea. I even had Riptide, in the pocket of the clothes I would wear.

Tyson chose that moment to wake up, so I stopped worrying for his sake, as well as my sanity. Once he was properly awake, we went through our packs together, one last time. I was _definitely_ not missing anything.

A knock at the door interrupted my silent worrying. "You can come in," I called. The door burst open, the half-risen framing three people in the gap, obscuring their features. Annabeth, Grover and Nico entered, stepping over the things lying on the floor and dropping down onto various bunks.

"Oh, hi guys," I said, somewhat lamely. I felt I should probably make a better effort for the people who might just save my life (and Olympus), but I couldn't think of anything better to add, so I left it.

"Feeling up for a quest?" Nico asked. Before either of us could answer, there was a rumbling noise from Tyson's stomach.

"Sorry," he said, as everyone in the cabin tried to hide smiles and laughter.

"There's a while until breakfast, you know," said Annabeth, looking more serious. "And I want us to have at least a basic idea of where we're going first. I don't want to be wandering around lost for weeks, it would be terrible. Any ideas?" Everyone started thinking. It was Grover who broke the silence first.

"West?" he suggested timidly.

"Mmm," Annabeth agreed. "Any reason why?" she asked curiously.

"Because it seems to be the uh, best direction to go in?" he said, as if asking her. Nobody else put forward any ideas, so when the conch bell rang, we hurried out to go to dinner, relieved to get out of the awkward atmosphere.

Breakfast was a subdued affair, because many of the campers knew that we would be leaving in a short while. Since our quest was from a god who had sworn us to secrecy, nobody else knew the details of it, even though they knew about it. This didn't stop the rumours from flying around, though: at least one person had it in their heads that they were off to track down the Hunters and receive information from them about a secret creature that could kill Kronos. I also heard one Ares kid tell another that we were off to find a magical item that could turn the heads of our enemies into pumpkins. I kid you not.

When I scraped part of my meal into the brazier, again asking Poseidon for help, I smelled lava again, like the previous morning. Strange. It was made stranger because I hadn't smelt lava at lunch or dinner yesterday – maybe it was a twisted hint: 'you will get attacked by lava at 9 AM'? Nah. I decided that I couldn't waste time worrying, and started eating: a much more important thing.

After breakfast, we met on Half-Blood Hill, by Thalia's tree. There were a few people gathered nearby, waiting to wish us well, but not many; Silena, Beckendorf, the Stoll brothers, and some of Annabeth's siblings turned and watched us as we walked up the hill, but stayed apart while Chiron talked to us. It didn't take long, it was just the usual warnings – be safe, don't do anything too stupid, contact us if you really need to and so on. When he finished, we said goodbye quickly, and crossed the border line to where one of the Camp vans was waiting, Argus in the drivers seat.

Argus was going to drive us to New York, and then we'd be on our own.

When we reached the city, we clambered out of the van and stretched, hoping that we'd be able to cover a fair amount of distance today. As Argus turned to leave, he shocked us all. Covering his mouth with his hand, he spoke.

"Good luck, heroes. You'll need it." It was only six words, but the stunned looks and dropped jaws made clear that it was far more important than that.

As we stared in amazement, he drove off.

**A/N I know it's a really short chapter, but I think it should end there, and the next one should be longer. Hopefully. **


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